Category — About New York

Hey Guys!

The public art that I captured is the Verrazano Bridge. I made this choice because I remembered how majestic it looked as we were passing underneath it while on vacation this past January (I took the video on a cruise ship, while both leaving and entering back into New York, hence the daybreak (leaving), and the dawn (returning) videos).

There is, however, another reason for my choice. I looked at the bridge, and it didn’t just resemble a bridge to me. It looked more like a symbol, something that wasn’t just useful, but beautiful. It had more than just a functional use; it had a sentimental value as well.

To me, the Verrazano Bridge represents what New York represents. New York may be diverse, but they are all united, for better or for worse. This theme is corroborated by the 9/11 attacks. We got hurt badly, not only physically, but mentally. Because we are all united, we act as one individual, and it is that which makes the bridge so amazing. It represents the unity between the separate boroughs, which consist of slightly different cultures. But they all care for each other because they are connected; they are connected by the bridges that surround them.

What do you think about it?

Joey Kabariti

UPDATE: Sorry about the videos. I had uploaded them with the post, but it didn’t post them. They were the reason I took so long to post.

What would a jagged mountain of color have to do with New York? It’s sort of like asking, “what does art have to do with New York?” As a foreigner looking in, the wild, unbridled energy of New York is something that is very unique. Go to Paris, Florence, Vienna, Munich, San Juan, DC, and you will never find the sort of ambience that is in New York, and every New Yorker knows it. They know it, love it, or hate it. No matter what, it plays an integral part of their lives and its absence is often felt, even to the most subtle degree. Art, like NY, is an accessible source of innumerable amounts of innovative ideas, aesthetic intents; a figurative fountain that shots out techicolour cranial explosions of creativity. The raw energy  just does not stay still, it is in a constant vibrato, a constant vibration; like an ADHD kid on cocaine and Ritalin, it is agitated by its own inner energy that is just forcing its way out, pushing its way through the psych to the canvas, to the sax, to the lips.

Laying in soft slumber, a slobbering child of the subconscious, Art invades electronic pathways, finding its way of escape from the claustrophobic entrapments of the human mind.  It does not scream from free enclosure, but rather wraps itself around such prison and makes it its own. The possessed is now the possessor and the mind is left to Art’s discretion. The rudimentary tasks are now put to flow into grand rivers of subconscience awareness that form even grander waterfalls into the active conscience to further explore and become small streams that end in the ocean of reality. What one sees as art is not what art is but rather art’s diluted, emasculated form. For true art one must not look in the pages of a book, the composition of a portrait, or the melody of a song but must stare at the colours of words, the sounds of brush strokes; true art is synesthesia. Art hides though, it doesn’t want to be found, for being found would make it lose its meaning as silence would be lost due to sound. It is scared of company and jealous of competition. Art is true to itself and is not one to suffer for any less. It is the most demand of slave drivers, directing its hordes into creative supernovas. Still the world is yet ready for such exstatic explosions, limitation and restriction must be held; for the benefit of mankind, art is held bound by the chains of reason and expression.

The 9/11 memorial was truly a remarkable experience for me. Although they weren’t completed yet, the buildings were beautiful. There were so many things about the memorial that were probably meant to be symbolic. The Freedom Tower is going to be 1776 feet high, because America got its independence in the year 1776. Its going to be even taller than the original towers, which seems to tell the rest of the world that although 9/11 is a huge tragedy, America has risen above it and the country has even grown as a result of it. The fountains were very interesting to me as well. They seemed like big hole in the ground, and they looked kind of like a grave. It’s as if they are grave markers for all of the people who died on 9/11, especially because they are located in the exact same spot that the original towers stood. We weren’t able to see the bottom of the fountains, and it looked as if they continued on into the ground beneath us, which was kind of creepy. Anyways, the memorial was beautiful and it was a great experience to be able to see it first hand.

The bull on Wall Street is a sculpture that I feel really demonstrates the characteristics of New York City. The city is all about business and economic growth, and that is something that the bull has heavily come to symbolize in economics. I find the features of the sculpture very interesting. The way the bull is standing shows is aggressive nature, something that most new Yorkers in the city also have (in class we called this characteristic “attitude.”) The goldish color of the bull reminds me of wealth and money, which the city has always thrived on. This work of art is a good representative of what the city is all about.

This sculpture might look familiar to some of you. It depicts the famous photograph, “Lunchtime Atop a Skyscraper” photographed by Charles C. Ebbets. I took it outside my bedroom window. The original photograph is right below. 

To be honest, I took this picture a few months ago but I really wanted to share it with all of you. I was just looking outside my bedroom window when I suddenly saw this sculpture. I recognized it as this iconic photo so I immediately ran to my camera and snapped a shot of it. The side of the truck said the sculpture was on its way to Rockefeller Center which makes sense since the photograph was taken during construction of the RCA building at Rockefeller Center. It depicts eleven men eating lunch on a girder, hundreds of feet in the air. The photograph appeared in the New York Herald Tribune. I think this photo is so iconic because admist all the dangers and hazards the workers faced, they seemed happy/proud to be doing it. Even though it wasn’t the original photograph, it was amazing to see the sculpture right before my eyes, almost like I was a part of the moment. Who knows, maybe next time you look out your bedroom window, something unexpected might show up!  

I took this picture when I went to Hudson River Park over the weekend. While there were other interesting public arts around the park, this stuck out to me the most. I saw this aura of sunlight coming through the clouds. It formed a radial array of light in the sky. It was  so beautiful that it was a work of art on its own. And people say NYC doesn’t have nature…   

In a city that’s so lively, creative, artistic and multi-talented, there is no doubt that one will be able to sight public art around the five boroughs in various forms. There are so many aesthetically pleasing and intriguing things located in New York City, but one can only post so much about them. Last Saturday, I went out to Manhattan from Brooklyn and captured a few of the myriad of artsy objects I observed that day. Enjoy!

Let’s start off with something we are all familiar with:

Not only is the old-fashioned library's exterior a work of art itself, but the library's bell tower fills the campus with sonorous chimes at different time intervals of the day.

As I was heading towards a very nice art store in the Columbus Circle area, I noticed this replica of the Mona Lisa on the wall of the building. What do you think about a famous piece of art used as a form of advertisement for something that embodies art?

One of the other most exquisite aspects of New York City is the architecture of its buildings. The Hearst Tower is a 42-story glass and metal skinned tower characterized by a large diagonal grid in Manhattan, emphasized by vertically alternating recessed and projecting multistory corner triangles. It sits atop the six-story cast-stone building Hearst Company headquarters, and in a way serves to greatly contrast with the headquarters, bearing neither stylistic nor material relationship to the high-rise above.

Below is a short clip of a man acting as if he was an inanimate object rotating on his small square platform in very slow motion. He was at the 59th Street- Columbus Circle train station, and he is one of the many public live arts one can see in New York City subway stations that make New York City all that much more unique.

So I found this truck after we visited the 9/11 memorial and it really struck me because of how integrated I feel the graffiti is to the truck. In a way, the graffiti gives the truck character, keeping it from being any normal, run-of-the–mill moving truck. In my opinion, even though graffiti is commonly viewed as a public nuisance, in my opinion, it works in certain contexts. In this context, for example, the graffiti makes the truck much more aesthetically pleasing than seeing a plain white truck (what I’m sure the truck was before the tagging). On the subway, however, I would have to agree that it is a form of vandalism. New York is all about giving others equal opportunities, and graffiti is a prime example of artists showcasing their abilities without limits. A graffiti artist can exhibit his artwork without recognition and can virtually show his art anywhere.

Located across from the World Trade Center, a business man sitting on a bench since 1982 survived the debris from 9/11. This bronze sculpture, Double Check, was made by John Seward Johnson II. It depicts a businessman simply going through his briefcase before heading off to work. Nothing unordinary. However, it became an “iconic stand-in for those who didn’t make it,” after 9/11. For a time, people covered the statue with tributes consisting of flowers, cards, pictures, hard hats, etc.

This public art represents an ordinary New York businessman, but at the same time, a survivor of the World Trade Center attacks. Two polar opposite aspects of New York City and the life within.

Notice the ads placed in his hand and in the briefcase. How "New York!"

The Following is an eye. A mosaic eye, to be exact.

It’s part of the art of the New York City Subway System. And it’s strange, which is part of what makes it …..New York.

Mossaic Eye- Close Up

Eye in Context, on White Tile Wall

Another aspect of this artwork that I love is that every mosaic eye decorating the Church Avenue subway walls is different, some wider, some darker, some closer together, and others standing alone. It is a striking representation of the diversity one finds in the city, displayed using an eye- the medium through which initial assessments are formed.

The added dimension of this artwork- that it decorates the otherwise mundane and dirty subway walls- is amusing in that the decoration itself is meant to be aesthetically pleasing and it takes the shape of an eye. Its impact is thus doubly effective.

Thus, the eye as a method of decoration is powerful in the literal sense and in that it is an eye. Or rather, many eyes.

This is a fitting representation of New York City in the sense that it demonstrates diversity. And it’s in the subway, which- to me- is an integral part of the city. It also showcases the ingenuity and creativity that make NYC so unique.

It’s fun.

And it’s kind of creepy.

The walls may not have ears, but they certainly do have eyes…….

Public art can be found anywhere. This photo was taken during a recent trip into Manhattan. When we got out of the subway at 34th Street-Penn Station, we stumbled upon this very photogenic squirrel. It seemed to be posing for every picture we snapped. It would run down the tree trunk and then flash a grin our way. One of the many unique things about New York is the interesting creatures one can always run into. One may encounter a curious character on the subway or a camera-friendly squirrel frolicking through the streets. In context, this art is a minute measure of the uniqueness of New York City. This critter captures the attitude and vibrancy  of New York.